Method of Maintaining Applications in a Computing Device

Abstract

A method is provided for managing the application lifecycle for user applications on a computing device. The method can centrally manage application lifecycle (including installation, execution status, removal) application capabilities long-lived OS level application owned resources (e.g. push connections, alarms) security for any application, regardless of application type or model or execution environment.

1 . A method of managing application lifecycle for user applications on a computing device, the method comprising providing an application management system (AMS) for managing a plurality of application models and a plurality of application environments, wherein the AMS is implemented as a component within an operating system for the computing device and grants to the operating system control for all application management functionality on the device. 
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the user applications comprise any one or more of, in any combination;
 a. a native application which interacts directly with the operating system on the device;   b. a Java application of any type including but not limited to unmanaged applications, midlets, applets and xlets for interaction with a Java Virtual Machine;   c. an application designed for the BREW application environment;   d. an application designed to run via a language interpreter including but not limited to Fortran, Forth, Lisp, BASIC, Visual Basic or Perl;   e. an application designed to run inside a Web Browser;   f. an application written in intermediate code, such as a   Pascal application written in pCode;   g. an application written in machine code for the processor or processors used in the device; or   h. any other type of program designed to run on the device under any other application model and/or run-time subsystem.   
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the AMS is extensible for permitting support to be added for further application models and/or run-time subsystems. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the application lifecycle comprises any one or more of, in any combination;
 a. the installation of an application;   b. the loading of an application;   c. the execution of an application;   d. the suspension of an application;   e. the resumption of an application   f. the termination of an application;   g. the removal or deinstallation of an application; or   h. any other lifecycle operation for an application.   
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the AMS manages operating system or hardware resources which are owned by or associated with any user application. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 5  wherein the AMS is able to alter the lifecycle state of any application in response to an alteration in the state of an operating system or hardware resource which is owned by or associated with the said application. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the AMS is arranged to manage the security attributes of any application. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the AMS maintains a record of any or all of the following:
 a. all applications currently installed on the device;   b. the state of all running applications;   c. operating system resources;   d. hardware resources;   e. a set of mappings of hardware and/or operating system resources to resource related events, applications, application states, and actions.   
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the AMS comprises a server to which multiple applications can connect as clients. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein multiple instances of an application can be independently managed by the AMS. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein a first set of functions handle the application states relating to installation and removal of all applications and a further set of functions handle the application states relating to the execution of each instance of all applications. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 1  in which one or more sets of AMS listener functions provide applications with event notifications. 
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 1  in which the AMS comprises a layered architecture which includes a public API providing access to the functionality required for lifecycle and resource management. 
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 1  in which application subsystem or run-time environments for all applications or executables which are unable to directly access native AMS APIs provide a set of insulation layers which enable such applications. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 1  in which the actions taken by any part of the AMS are modified by the security attributes assigned to system or user applications. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 1  in which the actions taken by any part of the AMS are modified by the security attributes assigned to the current user of the device. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein installing and executing any type of executable code on the device is restricted to the use of the AMS. 
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the user applications comprise all independently installable items of executable code irrespective of whether they are independently executable, such as a library or a plug-in providing extended functionality. 
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the user applications comprise all independently installable data sets which affect the running of any application. 
     
     
         20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . A computing device managing application lifecycles for user applications on the computing device, comprising:
 an application management system (AMS) stored on said computing device, managing a plurality of application models and a plurality of application environments, wherein the AMS is implemented as a component within an operating system for the computing device and grants to the operating system control for all application management functionality on the device.   
     
     
         23 . An operating system for managing an application lifecycle for user applications on a computing device, comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer-readable program code comprising:
 computer-readable code providing an application management system (AMS) for managing a plurality of application models and a plurality of application environments, wherein the AMS is implemented as a component within an operating system for the computing device and grants to the operating system control for all application management functionality on the device.